Pesh Patel, DPC Patient Ambassador In 2017, I was visiting Melbourne, Australia as part of my career as a global hospitality executive. While walking around the city, I suddenly had to stop four separate times over the course of just three city blocks because I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was out of shape. What I didn’t know was that I had been living with a single kidney since birth, and that kidney was functioning at 2%. If I hadn’t gone to the ER when I did, I would have died within 20 hours. Two hours later, I was [...]

Elizabeth Lively, DPC Eastern Region Advocacy Director Pamela Zielske, DPC Western Region Advocacy Director Does advocacy have a “secret sauce” for success? Are there tactics and tools that an organization needs to consider as strategies are developed to get legislation passed? What does success look like? How does optimism and the cumulative impact of advocacy work impact positive outcomes? Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) began a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) campaign in 2022 supporting legislation in the states to provide premium protected Medigap coverage to ESRD patients under-age 65. This campaign supports DPCs goals of improved financial security, increased [...]

Jackson Williams, DPC Vice President of Public Policy On March 18, 2026, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing titled “Improving Kidney Health Through Better Prevention and Innovative Treatment”. This hearing allowed patients, providers, and other stakeholders to highlight the struggles many kidney patients face and the barriers that prevent them from accessing better, innovative treatment. This was exciting for kidney care advocates, as challenges have mounted since Congress last addressed kidney health in 2008. Better still, the questions from Members of Congress demonstrated that committee leaders understand those challenges and potential solutions. They are [...]